Sudan humanitarian group opposes government position on Islamic laws

KHARTOUM, April 20, 2004 (dpa) — A statement signed by 34 high-ranking officials in Sudan – including politicians, activists and lawyers – has called for making Khartoum a free and secular capital, in which all ethnic, religious and cultural groups live together in mutual co-existence.

After reviewing a paper presented on the status of Khartoum by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to mediators at the stalled peace talks in Kenya, it was proposed that the capital should avail of political and civil freedoms in accordance with International Charters.

The Movement for Social and Democratic Rights, an umbrella group representing the officials, “will work to achieve a capital that accommodates different ethnic and cultural groups, with laws to be formulated by an interim legislative assembly”, said Human Rights Lawyer Ghazi Suleiman on Tuesday.

On the controversial Islamic sharia law, the statement welcomed the implementation of sharia on Moslems only, thus leaving room for non-Moslems to co-exist in harmony in Khartoum.

The move comes amid warring parties’ failure to reach compromise on the status of the capital on whether or not it should be sharia free.

For its part, the government has been consistently critical about the lifting of Islamic laws and continues to insist on the implementation of sharia, without provision for the mainly Christian dominated south.

The SPLA is demanding the cancellation of sharia – and hold it (sharia) responsible for the ongoing civil war.

The defunct regime of ousted President Gaffer Mohammed Numeiri had indiscriminately imposed sharia in 1983.